Franz Joseph Haydn

Classical Music / Composers Datebook: March 31
 

 

Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent of the Classical period. He was known as the 'Father of the Symphony.'

Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732, in Rohrau, Austria. Along with that of Mozart, he epitomised the early Classical era. The son of a wheelwright, he went to St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna as a chorister. He was mainly self-taught in composition however gained maturity as a composer. Haydn was married to Maria Anna Aloysia Apollonia Keller (m. 1760–1800.) His younger brother, Michael Haydn was also a composer. He was known affectionately as "Papa" Haydn to his young friend Wolfgang Mozart. He was a tutor of Ludwig van Beethoven for a brief period.

In 1761, at the age of 29 (his young friend Mozart was then five years old), Haydn took employment with the Esterhazy family, a post he held for the rest of his life. On the death of Prince Nikolaus in 1790, he accepted an invitation to go to England from the impresario Salomon, where he composed many symphonies.

 

Joseph Haydn was a major exponent of sonata form in his numerous chamber and orchestral works having written more than 100 symphonies. He was also the first great master of the string quartet.  

Haydn is famous for his oratorio "The Creation" (German: Die Schöpfung) and "The Seasons" (German: Die Jahreszeiten). He wrote many symphonies and string quartets.  He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio. His contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet". Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe.

Related Article: 

What "Papa" Haydn Taught Mozart
   

Listening pleasure:

Pianist Martha Argerich performing Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. XVIII:11.  YouTube, uploaded by Roberto Carvalho de Magalhães. Accessed February 9, 2018.  (Added info from  Hyperion for those who want to know more about this concerto by Haydn - Here.)  

Patty Smith Hill: Lyricist of Happy Birthday Song

Pop & Parlour Songs / Lyricist's Datebook: March 27 

 "Happy Birthday to You"

Today, March 27,  we celebrate the birthday of Patty Smith Hill,  the woman who wrote the original lyrics of "Happy Birthday to You."  Patty was born in Anchorage, Kentucky, the sister of Mildred J. Hill with whom she is credited as co-writer of the tune to the song initially entitled "Good Morning to All" as a song that young children would find easy to sing. During the 20th century, it became more popular as "Happy Birthday to You."

Patty and her sister Mildred wrote the song (Mildred wrote the tune; Patty wrote the original lyrics) while Mildred was a pianist and composer of songs and Patty was principal at the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School. This kindergarten was an early experiment in modern educational methods, and was honored, along with the Hill sisters, at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

Modest Mussorgsky

Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: March 21

Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky famous for opera Boris Godunov and orchestral Pictures at an Exhibition.

Mussorgsky was a member of the Russian "The Mighty Handful" or "The Five" group of composers.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (21 March 1839 – 28 March 1881), was a Russian composer, an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. Mussorgsky was known to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in a deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music of the time.

His sentiments were nationalistic mainly inspired by Russian history and Russian folklore. Aside from Boris Godunov and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition, his output include the orchestral tone poem Night on the Bald Mountain, and mainly works known in versions revised or completed by other composers, like Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel, and Shostakovich.




Many of Mussorgsky's most important compositions have recently come into their own original forms, and some of these original scores are available.

Video Credit:

Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov, with Abbado, etal. Youtube, uploaded by Kis Martus. Accessed October 27, 2017.  (Salzburg, 1998 Berliner Philharmoniker Musikalische Leitung: Claudio Abbado Inszenierung: Herbert Wernicke Boris - Anatoli Kotscherga Fjodor - Ruxanda Donose Schuiski - Philip Langridge Pimen - Alexander Morosow Dimitri - Vladimir Galouzine Marina - Marjana Lipovsek Rangoni - Sergei Leiferkus)


Resource:

Sadie, Stanley, Ed.  The Grove Dictionary of Music, New Updated Edition.  London: Macmillan Publishers, 1994. 



(c) 2014. Updated March 21, 2020. Tel. Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.

Georg Philipp Telemann

Datebook: March 14, 1681 / Baroque Composers.

Known for his musical ability, Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history, a contemporary and good friend of Johann Sebastian Bach and George F. Handel.

Georg Philipp Telemann (March 14, 1681 – June 25, 1767), was a German composer, organist and conductor. He was a contemporary and good friend of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. JS Bach's son, C.P.E. Bach, was Telemann's godson. Telemann's style was an exemplar of German Baroque during its height and he was the best-known German Baroque composer and organist of his time.  

He was born in Magdeburg, Germany into a family with strong links with the clerical people. As a child, he received no specific musical education and taught himself by studying stores especially those of Lully and Campra. At ten, he had learned to play the keyboard, flute and violin. By the time he was twelve, he had written an opera.

Sadly, his mother, still not impressed, confiscated his instruments and sent him away to school. Fortunately, the schoolmaster was a music theorist. For the next four years Telemann continued his formal studies while also developing his understanding of musical composition. 

Below, G.P. Telemann Oboe Concertos 

(1). Concerto in E minor 0:00  

(2). Concerto in D minor 11:32  

(3). Concerto in C minor 20:19  

(4). Concerto in F minor 29:40  

(5). Concerto in D 37:26 

Painting: detail of 'Still Life with Flowers and Fruits' by Jan Frans van Dael (1840).

Spanish Explorer Amerigo Vespucci

Science / Explorer Dateline:  March 9

The continent of America was named after Amerigo Vespucci.

Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), born on March 9, 1454, In Florence, Italy, was the Spanish explorer after whom the continent of America was named. His name has been Latinized as "Americus."  He was a contractor in Seville from 1495 to 1498, and provisioned one or two of the expeditions of Christopher Columbus, the navigator, explorer and colonizer from Genoa, Italy.

He was not a navigator himself but promoted an expedition to the New World commanded by Alonso de Hojeda and sailed there in his own ship, in which he explored the coast of Venezuela. He was naturalized in Spain in 1508, he was appointed pilot-major of Spain.

Christopher Columbus may have received credit for the discovery of the Americas, but it was Amerigo Vespucci who corrected Columbus's mistaken belief that his discoveries were part of Asia. It was also Vespucci who stated that the Americas were a "New World."

Bizet Opera Carmen

Classical Music / Opera

 

 

Opera synopsis, characters, and other information of Bizet's Carmen

The French opera Carmen by Georges Bizet is one of the most famous and loved operas of all-time. The libretto is written by Henry Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novel by the same name, written by author Prosper Mérimée. Bizet found great opposition to the work, as many critics and the general public found the opera plot “indecent” during the time.

Carmen is first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on March 3, 1875. For French opera, Carmen broke new dramatic ground as it moved away from opera buffa (comic opera), to a deeper tragic story. Sadly, composer Bizet did not live to see that his work was to become one of the most often performed operas in the world.

The 4-act opera setting takes place in Seville, Spain. The original opera production of Carmen had spoken dialog rather than recitative. After Bizet's death, his friend Ernest Guiraud replaced the dialog to a sung recitative.


Famous Arias from Carmen:

• L'amour est un oiseau rebelle - Carmen
• La fleur que tu m’avais jetée (The flower song) - Don José
• Votre toast, je peux le rendre (Toreador song) - Escamillo

Apology: The video Originally featured is no longer available.  

Below is from Bizet's Opera Carmen - Bastille Opera. 

 

 

Arthur Kornberg

Nobel laureate for DNA and RNA discoveries

Biochemist Arthur Kornberg specialized in molecular biology. His primary research interests were in biochemistry, especially enzyme chemistry, deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis (DNA replication) and studying the nucleic acids which control heredity in animals, plants, bacteria and viruses.

He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for "discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid together with Dr. Severo Ochoa of New York University.